The latest award winning Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip  fit in perfectly with our current history studies of the events leading up to the Civil War.  Freedom Bound focused on the various attempts African American slaves made to gain their freedom.  Undeniably, this was a heavy topic.  Nevertheless, Colonial Williamsburg captured our heartstrings with true stories, allowing us to feel the pain while sensitively presenting the harsh realities of this terrible time in America's history.

     We began our preparation for this EFT by listening to this week's podcast, "Freedom Bound," in which the writer was interviewed.  She researched actual documents to find a variety of interesting vignettes to share the story that deep within every human heart is the yearning cry for freedom.  One interesting story shared how a slave woman in the 17th century gained her freedom through the legal system.  Another fascinating story was based on historical evidence of a slave that ran away, and an indentured servant that ran away, headed in the same direction.  The writer imagined what would happen if they met up.  Surprisingly to us, being from Texas, was that slaves in Texas often escaped to Mexico!  

     After the podcast, I read the Teacher Notes to the kids and then we did the first activity.  That required the kids to do some mental role playing.  I gave them scenarios where they were the slave.  I told them about their circumstances. Then they had to decide if they would stay with the master or run away.  After they deliberated over their choices, I read the corresponding primary source document that gave them "the rest of the story."  One of the most interesting we did was about a slave that had a good life with her mistress.  Because her master and mistress were well known, she had certain privileges in her life as a slave.  After the kids made their choices, we were surprised to find out who the master and mistress were, as well as the choice of the slave!

     Next we watched the videos.  They were a bit intense, without showing too much, and leaving most of the horror to the imagination.  My son was obviously engaged with the boy who was running away from a dog and ran up a tree.  He had merely been chased by the master so that the dog could learn his scent in case he ever did run away.  Another story took us to Louisiana in the 1800's where a slave was whipped in front of his family for running away.  You saw the overseer doing the whipping, you saw the family watching in horror, but you never saw the actual whipping.  The sound of the whip and the look on the family's faces were enough to put a pit in our stomach.  From there the young man who was whipped was treated for his wounds by one of the slaves while he planned his next attempt to escape.  The emotions between him and the one he loved was especially poignant.  Then the kids were really caught up in the story of the Texas overseer who was horribly cruel to the slaves and ended up in a fight with one of them.  The slave beat up the overseer and had to flee to Mexico.  The kids were upset by that, because the overseer was portrayed by one of their favorite actor/interpreters they met last August.  My son could not understand how he could play a bad guy.  My daughter was worried that the actor/interpreter was really dead. Wow, this was tough.  I told them this actor/interpreter did not really believe the same things as the overseer, whom he portrayed, did.  In real life all of the actors, representing slaves, masters and overseers are most likely friends.  Those were not real blows that were struck. That was not real blood. No one really got hurt.  Afterwards the actor/interpreter protraying the overseer got up and was friendly to those portraying the slaves.  Why do they do this?  To teach us history.  History has a way of repeating itself.  Understanding why things happened in the past can help us to make informed choices in the future.  We had quite a discussion about this, and I think it was good.  It's unfortunate that we ever have to look at the bad side of life.  I don't think it should be glamorized.  However it should be informative in a sensitive way, and Colonial Williamsburg does precisely that.  My kids learned a lot and they were able to watch the video again with better understanding of the purposes behind the stories, while realizing it was a representation of the past.

     During the week the kids read some books we had on the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman.  They also did the activities on the EFT web site.  One was a wheel that spun a random scenario for your life.  This time you might be a male slave on a sugar cane plantation with a family.  The master might sell you. Do you escape at all, by yourself, or with your wife and children?  Another spin might say you are a house servant in Virginia...well the scenarios go on and on.  Then whichever scenario you choose, you get to ask people in your life for advice on whether to run away or not.  Different ones will have different opinions until you finally make your choice.  I think the kids even got to attempt to escape and run away from the slave catcher.  Another activity was an interactive timeline of slavery in America.

     The day of the live broadcast was on Thursday.  There was a slave and abolitionist  (both from the 1800's) and the manager of the African American interpretive program to answer questions.  The slave, who was a woman on a sugar cane plantation in Louisiana spoke mostly with her eyes...her halting words expressed hardship, grief, sorrow...her eyes spoke of pain.  

     Afterwards my daughter e-mailed one of the slaves in the video.  He was the one who was approached by the abolitionist to help a slave escape.  He did not want to get into trouble, but the Quaker finally convinced him, and historically we now know that he took many slaves across the river to freedom. 

     We have not had the opportunity to do all of the activities we would have liked to do with this EFT.  My husband has retired from the USAF and he got a job in Virginia!  We'll be closer to Colonial Williamsburg!  Despite the busy-ness of selling a house and preparing to pack, we could not forego a CW EFT.  These are too wonderful to pass up.  Instead we picked and chose from the wealth of activities and learned a lot.  We greatly appreciate Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for making these Electronic Field Trips, and also Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for making them affordable to homeschoolers!